"Centauri, Arrival" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meier Sid)

Zakharov arrived and stepped through the massive open doors of the Alien Temple, three guards entering behind him. He surveyed the interior criticallyЕthe low arched walls, the strange patterns that covered every surface, and the broad, low platform directly opposite the doors.
УAcademician,Ф said the tall, bony man who approached him carefully. УWelcome to our preservation efforts. YouЕФ He motioned helplessly at ZakharovТs feet.
Zakharov looked down. He found himself standing astride a strange narrow channel carved into the floor, emanating straight out from the platform opposite the door. He clenched his jaw Еsomething about the configuration of the space made the central channel feel like a railroad track, something that might guide a force that could wipe a bystander out.
He ignored the implied request to move and stood his ground. УGreetings, Bortniansky. Tell me what you have found.Ф
One of the manТs bony hands plucked ZakharovТs sleeve and gave a single tug toward a nearby wall. УWell, here are the pits we told you about in our reports. SeeЕ." He ran his fingers carefully along the complex series of tiny holes and ridges along the wall, which looked like a cross between hieroglyphics and Morse code. УIt's incredible. These patterns are older than humanity, perhaps older than Earth itself."
Zakharov stepped toward him and thrust a finger into one of the larger pits. "It feels solid. This is a strong material. It is good that it has held up for so long." He looked around and then pointed at three yellow suited techs who stood around the platform opposite the entrance. УWhat are they doing over there?Ф
УWe are working our way in that direction, Academician.Ф
Zakharov shook his head and headed for the three men. As he approached he saw that one of them held an airgun and was directing it at a series of unusually large and oddly shaped hollows that covered the center of the main wall behind the platform.
УWhat are you doing?Ф Zakharov asked.
УTrying to get a reading on the shape of these hollows, Academician,Ф the oldest of the men, a Swedish tech, answered. Zakharov watched them work, then glanced up. Through a tiny opening in the ceiling, he could see the dark clouds overhead. He frowned and looked down.
On the floor in front of the wall was a layer of crystalline gray dust, fine and sparkling. Zakharov knelt down and touched it, then scooped up a handful.
УPerhaps you should not touchЕФ whispered Bortniansky, then trailed off.
Zakharov pointed at one of the more elaborate hollows. УDirect the air here.Ф
One of the men did. Zakharov grabbed the man's hand and shifted it, changing the movement of the air, and as he did he released a fine trail of dust, which was caught by the air currents and bent around into an arc. He moved his hands and another arc formed, curving near the first.
УHold the light there,Ф whispered Zakharov hoarsely, motioning to a place above the hollows. One of the technicians quickly obliged.
Zakharov opened his hand and let the sand flow. It curled and then caught the light, accented with strange shadows cast by ridges on the wall.
УDoes it look like a face?" Zakharov whispered. The techs leaned in, and there, for a moment, a vague shape took formЕlong and strangely curved, with hollows for eyes, formed by a trick of dust and shadow. Then it vanished.
Zakharov remained staring at the space, then he straightened. УMeasure every square millimeter of this chamber, then pull it all down. I want the east and west walls shipped to University Base for full analysis.Ф
УBut Academician,Ф protested Bortniansky, shaking like a reed in a storm. УWe should not violate the sanctityЕФ
УThere is no sanctity. I want this back at the lab,Ф said Zakharov, and motioned to his guards. УI will return to University Base, now. I want to know if we have seenЕfaces.Ф


Centauri: Arrival, Episode 4

Bortniansky stood and watched as his technicians separated the surface of the East Wall from the structure of the Alien Temple. Large cutters adapted from equipment on the Unity made short work of the Temple's strange material, losing only fractions of millimeters from the cut.
But fractions mattered. They mattered!
"Step back, Academician," a cocky young lieutenant ordered him as the wall surface began to pull outward. Large cranes steadied the section.
"If it falls, let it crush me," Bortniansky muttered. "I can not stand this."
Slowly, carefully, the cranes lifted the huge section from the wall and set it on its edge, then lowered it onto a palette made of plastic honeycombs. As they let the piece down it boomed and the sound echoed richly through the hall.
The young lieutenant stared at the face of the wall now revealed, its "skin" peeled away.
"Don't move," whispered Bortniansky.
"Sir," stammered the young lieutenant. "We checked this. I fear our equipment was not good enoughЕ"
Bortniansky ignored him and walked forward toward the newly revealed surface. The face of this wall was a study in contours, full of tiny pits, elaborate hollows, and ever stranger ripples and curves. the configurations stretched up and away, to the ceiling and out to both sides, a story inside the walls.
"This is a mistake," Bortniansky croaked. He looked to the main wall where two technicians had stopped working, measuring tools in their hands. "Stop working there. We will not cut into any more walls. The rest will be imaged and transferred by datalink."
"And what of this one?" the young tech asked, tapping the panel on the floor with his foot. "Zakharov wants it."
"This one we will send."
The lieutenant nodded. "I'll have it loaded onto the transport."
"No," said Bortniansky. "We will not be sending this by land. The land transport is a decoy."
"How then?"
Bortniansky stared at the panel on the floor. "This one goes by sea."
The wind in the chamber touched the newly revealed surfaces and began to sing.

Episode 4, part 2

Captain Ulrik Svensgaard stood on a quiet beach and watched the glint of metal on water. He squinted, stroked his long blonde not-at-all-regulation ponytail, spat a salty wad on the rough red sand, and looked through his farspecs again.
"Three ships. I didn't even know Zakharov had three ships."
"Those aren't ships," returned his wiry first mate. "One is a tug, the other nothing better than a floating box. The third, thoughЕthere are people in armor there. It could have some firepower."
"Really?" He arched a brow. "We are all too busy eking out our survival on land to mount cannon on our ships, don't you think? Even Morgan knows nothing of our little experiment."
"Yeah, Morgan would not approve." His first mate narrowed her sea green eyes and looked out at the ship again. The two remained silent for a few moments, the whistle of the sea winds on them.
"They are coming from the Temple," she said finally. "But why by sea?"